ST LOUIS, MISSOURI – MARCH 20: Tre Donaldson #3 of the Miami (FL) Hurricanes dribbles the ball up the court during the second half against the Missouri Tigers in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Enterprise Center on March 20, 2026 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Jamie Squire
Getty Images
ST. LOUIS
The boos were deafening when the Miami Hurricanes ran onto the Enterprise Center floor for warmups before their NCAA Tournament opening game against Missouri late Friday night and reached a crescendo during player introductions.
Although Miami was the higher seed at No. 7, the 10th-seeded Tigers were granted significant home court advantage playing 126 miles from campus while Miami fans had to travel 1,100 miles.
But the “visiting” Hurricanes overcame the crowd, led for 34 minutes and won 80-66 to advance to the Round of 32 on Sunday, when they will face No. 2 seed Purdue, which routed Queens University 104-71 in the earlier game. Tipoff is 12:10 p.m. ET and the game will be shown on CBS.
Roughly 500 UM fans bought tickets to Friday’s game, according to a school official, and they could barely be seen or heard in the raucous sea of yellow and black that nearly filled the 22,000-seat arena to the rafters.
Every time a call went Miami’s way, the crowd booed. When a Hurricane player missed a free throw, the fans cheered.
When UM’s Shelton Henderson raced down the court and soared for a dunk, silence. And when the Tigers’ 7-foot center Shawn Phillips slammed down a dunk to tie the game 32-32 early in the second half, pure pandemonium.
The only time Miami fans could be heard was when Tru Washington made the final free throws in the closing seconds, sealing the win. The pep band chanted “It’s great to be a Miami Hurricane” as the UM bench celebrated and a smattering of Miami fans cheered.
The Hurricanes said the rowdy atmosphere worked in their favor.
“That just really got me going, hearing fans talk trash just really gets me going,” said Henderson, a freshman who finished with 15 points. “A lot of Mizzou fans were against us and we like the adversity and it just pushed us to get this done.”
ST LOUIS, MISSOURI – MARCH 20: Shelton Henderson #7 of the Miami (FL) Hurricanes drives the ball against Mark Mitchell #25 of the Missouri Tigers during the second half in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Enterprise Center on March 20, 2026 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) Jamie Squire Getty Images
Tre Donaldson, who had 17 points, six assists and four steals, added: “We had a good idea coming into the game what we were going to see in the stands and Coach’s biggest thing is to just treat it like a normal road game. Don’t try to overcomplicate it. And we did a really good job of staying together.”
Senior forward Malik Reneau led the Hurricanes with 24 points, including 19 in the second half and 8-of-11 from the free throw line.
Even though Miami tied a school record with 24 regular season wins after going 7-24 last season, even though UM finished third in the ACC behind Duke and Virginia, and even though Jai Lucas reached 20 wins faster than any first-time ACC head coach in nearly three decades, the Hurricanes entered March Madness with a chip on their shoulders.
“It kind of goes with our motto and theme for the year: We haven’t really been respected to the level we think we should be,” Lucas said during his pre-game press conference, when asked about the Tigers playing so close to home.
“Where we were projected to be in the ACC at the beginning of the year, people saying we weren’t a tournament team, and now, you get all this stuff, credit and praise, and then you get a seven seed and have to go on the road. So, for us, it’s business as usual. We won eight road games. We expect this to be a road game. We’re treating it like a road game, and we have to go out and take our respect like we have done all year.”
ST LOUIS, MISSOURI – MARCH 20: Head coach Jai Lucas of the Miami (FL) Hurricanes calls out to players during the first half against the Missouri Tigers in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Enterprise Center on March 20, 2026 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) Jamie Squire Getty Images
It was not the prettiest game. Miami led 27-26 at halftime and both teams were shooting in the 30 percent range.
But then, Miami has prided itself on not earning style points all season.
This is a team built on brawn, physicality, rebounding and points in the paint. Lucas called the team an “ugly monster” early in the season and the coaching staff embraced that identity with a Jason mask that it awards to the top performer after every game.
The Hurricanes missed seven of their first nine shots. The Tigers missed six of their first seven. Both teams flew up and down the court at breakneck speed, only to miss the shot at the other end. At times it looked like a wild playground basketball game.
The eagerly awaited matchup between Reneau and Missouri’s Mark Mitchell resulted in a defensive battle in the first half. Reneau went 2-for-10 before the break and Mitchell went 0-for-3, largely because of Ernest Udeh Jr.’s relentless defense.
“They have some big bodies and Jai knows my game pretty well, I was with him a couple of years,” said Mitchell, who played at Duke when Lucas was an assistant there. “Udeh is a really good defender along with them throwing bodies at me. I was trying to get some passes out of the double teams early, but they built a wall that made it hard for me most of the game. Kudos to them.”
ST LOUIS, MISSOURI – MARCH 20: Malik Reneau #5 of the Miami (FL) Hurricanes shoots a free throw during the second half against the Missouri Tigers in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Enterprise Center on March 20, 2026 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) Jamie Squire Getty Images
Missouri closed out the first half with a 9-0 run to head to the locker room down 27-26.
The Hurricanes found their shooting touch in the second half and went on an 11-0 run over a three-minute span to pull ahead 63-54. They wound up shooting 59.3 percent from the floor and 58.3 percent from beyond the arc in the second half
Mitchell ended the night 4-of-10 for 19 points, with 8-of-10 shooting from the line. Jayden Stone led the Tigers with 21 points.
Lucas had said the game would come down to who took care of the ball better, who controlled the glass and who won the rebounding battle. He was right.
Miami outrebounded Missouri 46-30, 16-7 on the offensive end, outscored the Tigers 19-2 in second-chance points, and went to the free throw line 29 times.
“What I’m most proud of is we talked about our identity, and it showed with 46 rebounds, 16 offensive rebounds, 19 second chance points and getting to the line 30 times,” Lucas said. “And then we took care of the ball in the second half, and that is why we were able to generate the separation we did.”
The Hurricanes improved their overall record to 26-8 after going 7-24 last season, the biggest turnaround in the nation. And they’re not done yet.
“[Lucas] preaches to us the time to keep the chip on our shoulder and that’s what continues to push us,” Donaldson said.
This story was originally published March 21, 2026 at 1:10 AM.
Miami Herald
Miami Herald sportswriter Michelle Kaufman has covered 14 Olympics, six World Cups, Wimbledon, U.S. Open, NCAA Basketball Tournaments, NBA Playoffs, Super Bowls and has been the soccer writer and University of Miami basketball beat writer for 25 years. She was born in Frederick, Md., and grew up in Miami.